Vietnam to stop free HIV treatment in 2017

This is because international aid, which covers all medical fees for people with HIV, will cease, according to the Nong thon ngay nay(Countryside Today) newspaper.

The funding stoppage will be fully introduced in 2017 because Viet Nam has now been classed as a middle-income country. Until then, international aid will cease for new cases. 

Nguyen Hoang Long, head of the Health Ministry’s Administration of HIV/AIDS Control said ARV drugs could suppress the HIV virus, stop the progression of HIV and reduce HIV infections in the community.

Long said about 98,000 people with HIV had received free ARV treatment in the country to date. He said it cost about VND420 billion (US$19 million) a year to treat 98,000 people with HIV.

Thus, the cost for medical treatment fee for one person treated with ARV was about VND4 million (US$181) a year.

In response to the situation, the health ministry has issued circular no 15/2015/TT-BYT saying that the health insurance agency will cover all costs for ARV treatment, but only for pregnant woman and children under the age of six with HIV.

The circular added that from 2017, the agency would cover 80 to 95 per cent of medical fees for ARV treatment for other people. They will have to contribute about 5-20 per cent of total  fees..

Do Thi Nhan, head of the department’s HIV/AIDS Examination and Care Office said that this was a significant effort by the national health sector.

Long, from the Viet Nam Administration of HIV/AIDS Control, added that the ministry would encourage 60 per cent of people with HIV throughout the country to buy health insurance cards by 2020.

However, he said it would not be easy to ask people with HIV to buy health insurance because most of them were poor.

Nguyen Van Binh, who has HIV and lives in central Nghe An Province, said he had no money to buy a health card.

He said he would probably be forced to stop ARV treatment when financial support stopped and felt the Government should to more to help people with HIV.